NEW ARRIVALS!
The RETRO-ROCKETS/YAHOO COMMUNICATIONS SETUP
How You Can Become a Functioning Member Here at SPACE PATROL
Instead of the usual "bulletin board" (actually it's "forum"), I've decided to use yahoo groups for our message board(s). An ad-free board costs an arm and a leg for a good one, particularly one that you can chop up into separate forums and store messages in excess of about 200 posts, and for other reasons that I will explain later. I think that this is a better deal
Because we have 3 message centers and becuase you may want to contact others, we recommend a yahoo suite just for here. That way, you don't get your business elsewhere confused with what you do here. We have also been given the OK to use the SOLARGUARD/STARLOG BULLETIN BOARD as part of our Communications Network. It is must-register-to-post board. When complete, this will be your Commlink, comchannel or Communications Center. If you decide to MOVE IN, or use any of the communications gear that we have, this is what you will wnat to have up and running. If you use any of the major rocket cockpits or communications consoles, it will be integrated in and since you can customize it to your wants: Well...what can I say?
Begin with a yahoo ID. Now in choosing a name, you will be judged by it. so nothing like satans_child, doggy_drool, daddys_boy or spank_mistress, that is nothing bizarre, crude, vulgar or porno. they violat our code of conduct and can get you thrown outta here faster than a rocket-propelled rabbit. Aside from which people may tend to avoid you likke Plutonian Plague.
A yahoo mailbox for your business here. It is spam and virus guarded.
A yahoo profile: it shows you aren't a spammer and you can put up what you want us to know about you
You may be able to use Yahoo 360. It gives you photo, blog, among other things, as part of a social networking arm of your commo suite
Don't turn up your nose at Yahoo Instant Messenger
Put it all together with My Yahoo! Your mini HQ. This is a page or pages to store goodies and access other things on the Yahoo network. and includes a notepad for making notes or logs if you use it wit the Terra V Rocket Cocpit or Start page which contains a link right to the start page a calendar. verizon services plus a shipload of things I don't even have but the selections blew me away.
This also gives you about 20MB free space on Geocities. Far from the greatest free hosing (I don't like the way they do the ad displays and you can't use your nav buttons) but, it's serviceable and it's there anyway so why not take it.
The whole thing is also anonymous, you choose all names and ID's, so nothing bad will follow you home, unless, of course, you are dumb enough to bring it with you. So you have a built-in level of security. So, STEP ON IT. CADET!.
JOIN THe RETRO-ROCKETS MESSAGE GROUPS
- rocket_city, that will be about all the space stuff,
- space_patrol, limited to the Space Patrol section
- PastBlasters, about the topics in the "BLAST RANGE".
- Whatever new ones we may need or want
In this day and age, most message board owners require you to register and very few of them are divisible into forums this is a better way to go. Also, this can't be spammed to death like the Solar Guard message board was. Also. most of the free message boards throw more pop-ups at you than your pop-up blocker can deal with before you even start and decent message boards ain't cheap. Also, this is easier to manage than a message board. I'm a member of several clubs and they handle heavy traffic a lot better than a BB with less work. Also, it can sustain heavier traffic; most message boards have about a 1,000 message limit before they start to discard older messages unless the owner is willing to pay top buck. Also, you can have the messages sent right to your email, either your "home" address or your yahoo! addy. Also, you can send pix and other attachements which are then scanned for the nasties. That's quite a few "Also"s. All of that alone would make this at least as good as a forum for everyone...
...Except that there is more. Instead of just taking messages. each group:
- lets you store text, word and HTML documents in your own folder in a Files section
- Lets you put links in your own folder in a links section
- lets you put pictures in your own folder in a photos section.
- If you get a Yahoo Profile, which you ought since it shows that you are not a spammer, you become eligible to grab up 20MB of free space on GeoCities for your goodies that you can link to either from your profile, at your link folder or I can put up a Link central. This will add personal space that you can divide up and link to in whatever way you like. Now the free GeoCities works a bit differently. the ads appear in a frame at the right whcih you can make go away by using the x that appears in the upper left of that box, and the up and down navigation keys don't work there but it's still 20 megabytes of free space so while not really good, it's OK as a freebie
- lets you use Yahoo IM for chat
- Gives you a choice of using your own email or a yahoo email account
- Lets you read messages from your own mailbox or you can visit likt a regular message board. So you can "take it home with you"
- I can keep an eye on what goes on from my own rocketship and if there's a bad actor, I can send Space Patrol Major Hartbyrne in to boot his or her arse around the Solar System then give them a one way ticket out the airlock or simply isolate them and keep them there but totally inactive as I did on another group. This means that the bad actor doesn't get that they've been caught and they think they're safe so they don't drop out and re-enter under a new name.
I think it's better than a bulletin board if you intend to be active, which, if you do, then a little effort won't kill you. You can, in essence, create a sort of HQ of your own with My Yahoo!; and a pretty good one at that, especially considering the amount of money it will cost you. You will find them in the Carlysle Civic Center by going through the green doors; this doesn't matter since you'll stick the link to your groups in your My Yahoo!. You could get their toolbar. its Anti-spy is very good and you can put your yahoo things there and sign in and out from there. JOIN NOW
POINT OF ENTRY
Now, you just went through about 6 or 7 pages to get here. That's a lot, I did that to give it a scnse of place and process to make it as lifelike as I can. It should only be a one-time thing. That is, if you return you don't want to have to go through that mess every time. Now, ordinarily you'd find a site map and that would be it. but I have a larger purpose: I'm just a big kid who wants to play Space Patrol and has the training as a shrink to make it as lifelike as I can. You do not read this site and it's relatives, you use it and you play space Patrol, as you will see. So who wants to have to go through all that jive to get at the heart of it? Still, there are things you passed by to get to this spot and would want to get at again.
that's where a Point of Entry comes in. A Point of Entry lets you get at the rest of the site without hnaving to start from the index (first page). For Retro Rockets, we reccomend the Downtown Monorail Terminal. It has links to everything.
You might also be well advised to pick up TRILLIAN: The controller for all your instant messengers
SECURITY
The tools to keep you safe in cyber-space
YOU'RE NOT THROUGH YET